Friday, August 5, 2011

Minnesota Festival of the Performing Arts - Aug. 4-14

In my search for "tribal arts" events today, first I discovered Yahoo Directories. Then I found the above link. Reading the "About Us" section this event seemed to fit into the vibe of a community gathering.

The way this event works is that all interested parties or groups submit their applications to perform in February. There are no judges or "picking committees". Each application gets assigned a number which is followed by having a ping-pong ball with the same number deposited into a mixing machine. After the deadline date, the folks who run this event, fire up the machine and start picking out numbers at random.

The belief that all people are capable of creating art drives the confidence of the organizers that there will be sufficient levels of creativity to attract an audience and keep them interested enough to stay the day and experience multiple performances. To me this seems like a great way to encourage artists and to help them grow. It also provides an organic environment for community building both with the artists and audiences.

Tickets: $12 plus $4 admission button; kids’ tickets (12 and under) are $5 and don’t require a button; discounts and multi-show passes available. Tickets on sale July 1 from OvationTix at (866) 811-4111 or at fringefestival.org and at the box office 30 minutes before performance. The event will include 168 performances on 18 stages.

So if you happen to be wandering through Minneapolis this week, check this out. If you do go, please leave a comment with your experience. Thanks.